Review

Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe: The North-West European Campaign, 1944-1945

Thompson

Amazon UK ref: 0283061618 | Amazon US ref: 0283061618

From the Battle for Normandy through the Market Garden disaster (Arnhem), the clearing of the Scheldt to open up Antwerp, to the German Ardennes offensive and beyond, Thompson strings together British reminiscences with minimal coverage of the strategic and operational levels. Enumerating reasons for the slowness of the breakout, however, Thompson cites the veteran (i.e. burnt out) status of the British Divisions, the impotence and vulnerability of the Sherman tank, the lack of APCs, and the outstanding quality of the German Army, at least at a tactical level. He is also candid about British looting of French civilian homes and may surprise some by his reference to SS men at Arnhem offering brandy and chocolate to their wounded paratroop captives.

Attrition took a heavy toll, as Thompson reveals when quoting a trooper describing those lucky enough to get home leave: "It was very noticeable that very few of the hundreds going on leave were actually front-line troops at all...Infantry and tank men were very few and far between - obviously because very few of them had lasted long enough to qualify for leave."

This had its effect on tactics as described by Captain Freddie Graham of the 2nd Argylls when discussing the clearing of the Reichswald: "The number of people still serving who had landed with us in Normandy was quite small. So a combination of lack of trained leaders and trained manpower meant that simple tactics had to be employed. From this time on attacks were like the infantry assaults of World War One. White tape was laid. People formed up and walked forward at a set pace behind a barrage, halted for three minutes; coloured smoke was fired indicating you could go on, and so on. It was very undemanding, but anything more ambitious would have been beyond us. The trained leaders and soldiers were no longer there. That was the instrument with which we had to complete the campaign."

© armed-combat.com 7/1999